The land registry could be free, significantly more comprehensive and transparent under proposals put forward in the government’s housing white paper.
By 2030, the land registry will aim to achieve comprehensive land registration. This will include all publicly held land in the areas of greatest housing need being registered by 2020, with the rest to follow by 2025.
The government hopes this will aid better data sharing across government for the purposes of supporting development, ensuring financial stability, tax collection, law enforcement and the protection of national security.
Alongside the improved registration of land, the government proposes to improve the availability of data about wider interests in land.
The housing white paper states: “There are numerous ways of exercising control over land, short of ownership, such as through an option to purchase land or as a beneficiary of a restrictive covenant.
“There is a risk that because these agreements are not recorded in a way that is transparent to the public, local communities are unable to know who stands to benefit fully from a planning permission.
“They could also inhibit competition because SMEs and other new entrants find it harder to acquire land.
“There is the additional risk that this land may sit in a ‘land bank’ once an option has been acquired without the prospect of development.”
The government will consult on improving the transparency of contractual arrangements used to control land.
Following consultation, any necessary legislation will be introduced at the earliest opportunity, the white paper states.
The government will consult on how the land register can better reflect wider interests in land with the intention of providing a ‘clear line of sight’ across a piece of land setting out who owns, controls or has an interest in it.
The government also proposes to improve the availability of data about wider interests in land by: releasing, free of charge, its commercial and corporate ownership data set, and the overseas ownership data set; and publishing a draft bill to implement the law commission’s proposals for the reform of restrictive covenants and other interests.
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